1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a trailer for a dumping vehicle that is tilted by raising the front of the trailer to dump the contents out of the rear. In particular, the present invention is directed to a trailer for a dumping vehicle wherein the sidewalls are at an obtuse angle to the bottom floor and wherein the bottom floor is tapered from front to rear so that the bottom floor at the rear is wider than the front to assist in dumping the contents of the trailer.
2. Prior Art
Trailers used to transport loads which may be tilted by raising the front end and dumping the contents out of the rear end by force of gravity are well known. These trailers are typically attached to trucks or other vehicle to haul the trailer and accompanying load. The trailer itself includes a front wall and sidewalls and may have a removable or swinging tail gate. The tail gate is closed during loading and transportation of the materials and is removed or opened to unload the materials.
During loading and transportation of the materials, the trailer is parallel with the ground. During unloading, the trailer is tilted so that the force of gravity will allow the materials to slide out of the rear. Unloading of certain types of materials, such as clay materials, wet sands, or limestone, is sometimes hampered by sticking or clogging of these materials in the trailer. Additionally, in cold conditions, as wet materials freeze, they have a greater tendency to stick or clog in the trailer.
Notwithstanding tilting of the trailer for unloading, the materials may remain lodged in the trailer. The problem is exacerbated by one common type of trailer design utilizing a hydraulic telescopic, lifting mechanism. In trailers having a hoist box, the trailer has a recess at the front end which extends into the trailer to provide a space for the hydraulic cylinder. The space between the hoist box and the sidewalls at the front of the trailer provides an additional space for materials to stick or become clogged.
In order to overcome these problems, a number of measures may be taken. The clogged materials may manually be dislodged from the trailer although this requires additional labor and is time consuming. The trailer may be tilted farther than normal from the horizontal position to encourage the materials to become dislodged. While this is sometimes successful, it requires extra time and expense to tilt the trailer past the normal dumping angle. Additionally, when the trailer is tilted it is at risk to become unstable because the materials that are clogged in the trailer may be off center.
Others have addressed this problem in the past. Both Nelson (U.S. Pat. No. 1,627,336) and Atwell (U.S. Pat. No. 1,989,125) provide a dumping trailer that is wider at the rear than at the front to encourage removal of the materials by gravity. Voight (U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,321) provides a V-shaped floor and Guillaume (U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,773) provides a polygonal floor and sidewalls.
There remains, however, a need to provide a trailer that will encourage the unloading by gravity of wet or otherwise sticking or clogging materials and at the same time encourage the load to remain centered at all times.
It is, therefore, an object and purpose of the present invention to provide a trailer for a dumping vehicle having a configuration that will encourage the unloading of clogging or sticking materials.
It is a further object and purpose of the present invention to provide a trailer for a dumping vehicle having a tapered bottom floor that is wider at the rear than at the front and having a pair of opposed sidewalls that each extend upward from the bottom floor at an obtuse angle to the floor.